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Fractal‐Theory‐Based Control of the Shape and Quality of CVD‐Grown 2D Materials
Author(s) -
Li Junzhu,
Chen Mingguang,
Zhang Chenhui,
Dong Haocong,
Lin Weiyi,
Zhuang Pingping,
Wen Yan,
Tian Bo,
Cai Weiwei,
Zhang Xixiang
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.201902431
Subject(s) - materials science , fractal , chemical vapor deposition , nanomaterials , nanotechnology , fractal analysis , diffusion , quality (philosophy) , graphene , characterization (materials science) , fractal dimension , chemical physics , thermodynamics , mathematics , chemistry , physics , mathematical analysis , quantum mechanics
The precise control of the shape and quality of 2D materials during chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processes remains a challenging task, due to a lack of understanding of their underlying growth mechanisms. The existence of a fractal‐growth‐based mechanism in the CVD synthesis of several 2D materials is revealed, to which a modified traditional fractal theory is applied in order to build a 2D diffusion‐limited aggregation (2D‐DLA) model based on an atomic‐scale growth mechanism. The strength of this model is validated by the perfect correlation between theoretically simulated data, predicted by 2D‐DLA, and experimental results obtained from the CVD synthesis of graphene, hexagonal boron nitride, and transition metal dichalcogenides. By applying the 2D‐DLA model, it is also discovered that the single‐domain net growth rate (SD‐NGR) plays a crucial factor in governing the shape and quality of 2D‐material crystals. By carefully tuning SD‐NGR, various fractal‐morphology high‐quality single‐crystal 2D materials are synthesized, achieving, for the first time, the precise control of 2D‐material CVD growth. This work lays the theoretical foundation for the precise adjustment of the morphologies and physical properties of 2D materials, which is essential to the use of fractal‐shaped nanomaterials for the fabrication of new‐generation neural‐network nanodevices.